I spent today in an all-day meeting, as we were trying to map out the future state of one of the units within our department. This included revamping the job descriptions, deciding if we need two or three levels of analysts, and do we need more supervisors, admin and analytical assistants, or other support staff. The goal is to prepare the unit to handle not just the work in today’s world, but the work we know is coming down due to a major technological change. The key phrase of the day was “intentional planning”, and our goal was to try and find a structure that will work today but be flexible enough that it is still working in five years.

Now, I love the idea of intentional planning. I often do it in my own life- such as when I look at my goals and my next steps career wise. I’ve talked about joining a professional society this year and getting some additional professional certifications before I take the next step of looking to move to a higher position one to two years from now. That’s intentional planning. And for my life goals, big picture, I’m actually really good at it.

While I was in the meeting today, though, an issue arose with my assistant. As soon as I saw the emails about it, I felt like Homer Simpson, hitting my head and saying “doh”, because this was an issue I should have forseen. I know my assistant; I know how she operates. What she did today was 100% predictable on my part. And yet, I had not given her any specific instruction regarding this issue, so she took it into her hands and dealt with it in the way she deals with things. Which left me at my desk at 5:15 (I normally get off work at 3:30) typing up some response emails so that the fires don’t have time to grow overnight.

This was an issue that could have been avoided if I had engaged in intentional planning.

I don’t mean that I should have to create a new plan every time an issue comes up where my admin might need to communicate changes to the department as a whole. I mean, knowing her communication style, and the issues it causes, that I should have put into place a plan for department communications some time ago. Instead, I’ve put out fires every time something has come up. It causes me stress and annoys other members of the leadership team I work with.

I can avoid this if I just do some intentional planning. I need to put into place procedures for my admin to follow, regardless of the specific situation, that will prevent things from blowing up- whether I’m in the office or not. In addition, this allows me to have these procedures already in place as training mechanisms for when my admin retires. (Her current plan isn’t to retire until I plan to be out of this position, but there are changes happening in her life that may change that plan significantly.) And even if I leave before she does, having these standard procedures in place will be of benefit to my successor.

I need to remember that intentional planning isn’t just about planning for things one to five years down the road, it is also about solving today’s issues in a way that allows us all to get one to five years down the road.

What about you? Do you intentionally plan, at work or for your life? Do you have plans for the long term, sometimes forgetting that you also need to solve for today? Or are you a fly by the seat of your pants kind of person?

And yes, I recognize the irony of this post going up almost 3 hours late.